Michelle (Silva) Murray wasn’t a big fan of her coach every second of her volleyball career at Case High School.

In fact, the former Cardinal standout didn’t hesitate to answer if there were some nights she left practice despising Christine Stanton.

“Yes,” she said on Monday night at Case High School. “There would be days when we didn’t even see a volleyball. We would run and run and run.”

Even when the Cardinals were cruising through parts of their regular-season schedule, Stanton would be looking ahead, preparing her players as best she could for the state playoffs.

The record proves she was a master of preparation. Seven state championships. A 403-36 career record. An at-the-time national record 104 consecutive victories.

That history was highlighted on Monday night at Monahan Gymnasium when the court was dedicated in Stanton’s honor.

“It’s totally amazing,” said Stanton, the recently retired Superintendent of Schools said. “I never envisioned this. I never even gave it a second thought.”

Murray was part of the Case volleyball dynasty which, from 1986 through 1990, captured five consecutive state titles, the first three in Division 2 and the last two in Division 1.

A member of the Class of 1990, Murray has very much followed in Stanton’s footsteps. She is the volleyball coach and director of athletics of Ellis Technical High School in Danielson, Conn. She held a practice on Monday before hustling to her car and getting to Monahan Gymnasium in time for the Christine M. Stanton Court dedication.

“She was always pushing us to be the best we can be, building teamwork,” Murray said. “She had high expectations and wouldn’t settle for anything less.”

Case’s run of five straight titles could stand as the greatest team achievement for a high school sports team in this part of the state. And the Cardinals completed that run by capturing the two straight crowns in Division 1, a division Stanton thought Case should not have been placed in.

“They bumped us up. No. I didn’t feel that is was right,” she said. “I felt we were being punished for being so good. But in essence we worked very hard because the one thing I wanted to do is accomplish something there. And we did.”

Stanton was asked to reflect on that accomplishment.

“It totally blows my mind,” the Westport resident said. “I can remember the bus ride to my first state championship in Division 1. And I remember thinking to myself, ‘Just let them believe they can. Let them believe they can. Make them believe they can. They can win this.’

“And you’re talking about schools that had 2,000, 3,000 students in them. And we only had six- or seven-hundred. So it was just unbelievable. I just never gave up on them as athletes, on the belief that we could. And we did.”